Political commentary from the LA Times

As the holiday season unfolds, our thoughts on The Ticket turn to
working not quite so hard for a few days. So we are re-publishing some
of our favorite or most-read items from 2009. This item originally appeared on XXXXX.

President Obama's
back-to-school speech -- derided by conservative critics as an attempt
to impart socialism to the nation's impressionable youngsters -- is
(finally) winning some high-profile endorsements from the right.

Former First Lady Laura Bush
told CNN, "There's a place for the president of the United States to
talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren" to stay in school.

In an interview with CNN from Paris, where she is part of a U.N.
mission on global literacy, Bush praised Obama for doing a good job but
faulted the Education Department for issuing lesson plans suggesting
that kids write letters on how they could help Obama, guidance since
rescinded.

>The former schoolteacher and librarian also said she hopes parents
will echo the president and "encourage their own children to stay in
school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dream that they
have."

In interviews on Fox News and on the "Today" show, Gingrich called the White House "smart" for releasing the transcript Monday (see earlier Ticket post) and called on students everywhere to listen up.

Obama, for his part, may welcome the dust-up. After all, it may be
easier to deflect conspiratorialists who see socialism in
stay-in-school messages than those who see death panels in healthcare
reform.